Trip Report August 2024- Now With Half The Whining!

Hello everyone! My daughter Sage and I were in Disney from August 17th-24th so I thought I should finally get going on this trip report!

I have done several trip reports here over the years so I apologize if this is repeat information but, just to give you a quick refresh, I am married and have two girls, they are 13 and almost 9. We have been to Disney many times as a family. Unfortunately my kids are very high maintenance and both tend to have behavior issues. They also fight constantly. Yes, even in Disney. Our last family trip was in March of 2023. After that trip, my husband decided he wanted to take a break from Disney. This was absolutely out of the question for me; Disney is my one true love (and also my job) and I could never give it up. I knew there was no way I could handle both my kids on my own so I decided to take them separately. Hence why this trip report only has half the whining

Sage and I planned our trip first for two main reasons. One, she is starting to like bigger rides whereas Aria does not. And two, she could hang out briefly by herself if there was a ride I wanted to do but she didn’t, and Aria definitely isn’t old enough for that yet. We decided on August because she doesn’t like to miss school. I also thought it would be fun to do the Halloween Party. I am planning to take Aria in November 2025 and we are planning to do the Christmas party.

For this trip, I really wanted to focus on things I haven’t done before. And that started with our resort. I have stayed in almost every value resort (some multiple times) and a few deluxe resorts. But, I had never stayed in a moderate. I had also never used the Skyliner so of course, we decided to stay at Caribbean Beach.

Before I dive in with day one, here is a picture from our last family trip in March 2023.

 

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First and looking forward to the report! I like the "things I haven't done before" approach.

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

Day 1- Saturday 8/17



We had a 6:30am flight out of Providence and the airport was a bit rough. Sage set off the full body scan alarm and we were brought into a private room. The TSA agents wanted to pat her down but she was really scared and started crying. So they said they would just swab our hands instead. Sage’s swabs were fine but mine triggered an alarm. So I ended up getting the full body pat down and my backpack was thoroughly searched. First time this has ever happened to me. And one of the many reasons I NEED to be super early whenever I fly



Our flight was smooth and we successfully navigated the craziness that is MCO.

I took this picture more for the time stamp- we checked into Mears at 9:52am! Not bad at all.

And at exactly 10:23, we were entering Disney World!

We arrived at CBR at about 10:30 and since I hadn’t received a text, I went to the front desk to ask about our room and it was ready!!
Officially in our room at 10:51am! I love when that happens.

A few random room pics:

We were given a 5th sleeper even though it was just the two of us.

Hidden Mickey in the curtain

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

We booked a preferred room and we were in Martinique. After unpacking, we explored a bit before making our way to the quick service for lunch.

The view from our room.

And a few more pictures walking towards the main building.

Love this fountain area

For lunch at Centertown Market, I got the jerk chicken bowl. It was great!

Inside Centertown Market

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

We walked through the pool area just to check it out.

The kids splash area is so cute!

Selfie from our balcony because why not

We then decided to ride the Skyliner (for the first time!) over to Pop and AoA.

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

A few pics from Art of Animation. I’ve never been over to this resort

We didn’t make it very far because Sage was already dying from the heat. Insert eye roll here

I am 99% sure Aria and I are staying at AoA next year, in the Little Mermaid section. We did not make it over that far but that’s ok, Aria and I can discover it together next year.


We then went over to Pop for one main reason- tie dye cheesecake. Sadly, the food court was completely closed for renovation. There was a small grab and go section set up in the arcade but no tie dye cheesecake We settled on some frozen treats instead. And let’s be honest, Mickey bars are pretty darn good. Still a win!

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

Sage really wanted to swim so we went back to the room to change. She decided to lay down “just for a minute” and fell asleep I briefly woke her and told her I was going to walk around a bit. She mumbled she was staying to nap.

I again walked down toward the pool area and through Caribbean Cay. This part of the resort is really beautiful though a little much in the 90 degree heat and humidity

I also walked over and found our bus stop since we would be utilizing it bright and early the next morning!

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

I eventually went back and woke Sage and we got changed for dinner. Well, I got changed. Sage decided she didn’t actually like the dress she brought and changed back into her shorts. Teenagers are fun.

Off to Sebastian’s Bistro!

The inside of the restaurant is really pretty and our table had a nice view overlooking the water.

Our server was amazing, so friendly and attentive and made sure we had everything we needed and wanted. For the life of me I can’t remember his name but I did give him a cast compliment in the app.

Food photos in the next post!

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

Overall, the food here is great. The standouts for me were the salad, the rolls and guava butter and of course the dessert. The main entrees were fine but not spectacular. The dessert is coconut pineapple bread pudding and Sage is not big into coconut. She tried it but didn’t like it so our server brought her a giant bowl of the vanilla ice cream

I would definitely recommend trying Sebastian’s Bistro if you are staying at CBR but I don’t think you necessarily need to go out of your way for dinner here.

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

Before I continue on with day two, a few quick things to know about me. One, I am a planner. I had a plan for each day and a general order of how I wanted to go about the park. Sage helped with these plans. She told me her must dos and things she definitely did not want to do. I made several rough drafts and ran them all by her.

Two, I am a rope dropper. I love getting up early and arriving at the park prior to opening. I like to do as much as possible before leaving for the day. While I do occasionally stay late for night time shows, I do not like staying late every night. Again, Sage knows this. And for the most part, she was on board. On our last family trip in March 2023, she had no problem getting up early and was often the first one ready. For whatever reason though, that was not the case this time around. Maybe because she was still in summer mode or because she’s just older now. But literally every single morning, it was like waking a bear. And every single morning, we left later than I wanted to. It was extremely frustrating. But anyways…


Day 2- Sunday 8/18

This was our Animal Kingdom day! Early entry was at 7:30 and even though we left later than I wanted to, it ended up being ok because thankfully the CBR buses only do a half loop before leaving for the parks in the morning. This was a pleasant surprise and a huge relief considering how big the resort is.

Empty Tree of Life Selfie! Literally everyone took off running. Including Sage Great time for photos!

Our first stop was Navi River Journey.

I did not purchase multi pass for this day but did purchase a single pass for Flight of Passage.

After Navi (and another selfie) we started making our way towards Safari.

Interestingly, we were not allowed to use the back path from Pandora to Africa. It was completely filled with the FoP standby line so we were told we had to walk back out towards the tree of life. Boo to extra walking.

This seems like an appropriate time to quickly mention the crowds. We’ve been planning this trip for a while and I followed wait times pretty closely for this exact week the year prior. Based on the previous year’s wait times, I was so excited to visit during such a slow period.

Well, I think it’s safe to say, late August is no longer a slow period. It was pretty darn busy. At times it felt more busy than our previous trip in March. I will say, a large percentage of the guests had accents. A lot from the UK and I heard a lot of families saying they were from Brazil. So maybe school schedules are different and the word got out that late August was a good time to go.

Anyways back to our Safari! Wait time was basically as long as it took to walk through the queue.

Not a whole lot of activity but I think that’s to be expected in the heat. Funny side note, our driver pointed out as we were approaching a baby zebra and mama. The baby was jumping all around, it was super cute. Once we were close enough, I started to take a video. The instant I hit record the baby stopped and started peeing
Video deleted.

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

After our Safari, we walked through the Gorilla Falls Trail.

Some nice artwork for the Lion King anniversary

And another selfie

Walked around the back of the tree and stopped for some photos

We then walked the animal trail in Asia and unfortunately the tigers were pretty well hidden

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

So at this point, it was about 9:30am. We had an 11:25 ADR at Boma and I knew I wanted to be walking towards the exit by 10:15 and make it to the bus stop by 10:25, giving us a full hour to get there.

Even though I had a plan to ride Dinosaur later in the day, Sage really wanted to ride more than once if possible since it might be her last time ever to ride it. I checked the app and the wait time said it was a 10 minute wait. So we quickly made our way over.

Once we arrived at the entrance, we noticed the line looked way longer than 10 minutes. There was a CM out front saying it was more like 30-45. We decided to get in line thinking we would still be ok. I honestly didn’t realize how big the extended queue was! We snaked through switchbacks for ages before even getting inside the building.

Thankfully, our wait was closer to 30 and we made it to the bus stop in plenty of time. I kept checking the app while we were line and eventually, the wait time jumped to 60 minutes. It pretty much stayed in the 45-60 range all day. I guess everyone wanted one last ride.

We made it over to AKL in plenty of time. We looked around the lobby a bit, checked in on the app, and then poked around the gift shop.

11:25 came and went and our table still wasn’t ready. We sat in the closed lounge area for a bit then went down to the check in station just to make sure we were really checked in. We were told we were and that unfortunately they were about 30 minutes behind schedule. I really didn’t mind just sitting and relaxing in the AC but 1, I was starving and 2, it was a little frustrating after being so worried about being late.

But finally we were seated, I got some coffee and lots of delicious food!

Overall we really liked Boma. We liked taking a break from the craziness of the park and the food was great, but honestly I don’t know if I would do it again. I feel like food wise, Tusker House is just as good. And the hassle of walking back and forth and taking the bus, not really worth it in my opinion. But happy to check another restaurant off the bucket list!

And as an unexpected bonus, we saw DiVine on our way back into AK